Microsoft’s Next Kinect Can Read Lips: Report

Microsoft’s Kinect Sensor was a shock to gamers. Now there are rumors that the software giant has another surprise in store.

According to some sources, linked to the Eurogamer website, the next generation of Kinect will be able to read lips and even detect players’ emotions or movements, via new motion and voice-recognition sensors. Kinect 2 sensors will be able to “track the pitch and volume of players’ voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.” It means that if you get angry, the sensor will know.

Eurogamer sources also say that Kinect 2 will be so powerful that it will be able to track finger movements. This is not possible with the current Kinect sensor, because the USB does not allow it, its speed is too low–15/16MB/s:

It can be cabled straight through on any number of technologies that just take phenomenally high res data straight to the main processor and straight to the main RAM and ask, what do you want to do with it?

Microsoft plans to unveil the next generation of Xbox in 2012, during E3, and then release it in 2013. There are also rumors on the Internet that indicate there could be two versions of Xbox announced by Microsoft: one cheap (that will be Kinect-based) and another one expensive (with optical drive, hard disk, and backward compatibility).

A Microsoft spokesman said the company “does not comment on rumor or speculation.” Even so, it released a commercial video short time ago, teasing us about the wonderful things that can be achieved by using Kinect sensor: